Is Switzerland really Europes “Heart of Darkness”, as one British newspaper claimed on its front page?
Clive Church: I think that’s rather exaggerated and overlooks the electoral statistics. The implication is that the whole nation is gripped by these views, but the reality is you have a very divided country and a furious battle, with a minority – a very big one in Swiss terms – fighting to establish itself ahead of the [October] elections. Rather than seeing Switzerland as a country that has already succumbed to racism, you have to see it as a country engaged in a very bitter political battle fought out in a style which 20 years ago would have been unthinkable in Switzerland. The problem for other parties is that the People’s Party has changed its political style and become much more aggressive; it has shown itself much more adept in the media age.
